


Warming Up

by Anaredrina



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Aftercare, Again we're pretending Kyrie doesn't exist here for obvious reasons, Confessional Sex, Cowgirl Position, F/M, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Hand Jobs, Love Confessions, Mentions of passing out, Mutual Pining, Nero being a dumbass as usual, Post-Devil May Cry 5, Reader-Insert, Unprotected Sex, Vaginal Sex, Vanilla, kind of a uh oh there's only one bed trope, mentions of hypothermia, mild body worship I guess?, reader had hypothermia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:15:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27230323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anaredrina/pseuds/Anaredrina
Summary: Nero takes a different approach to helping you warm up after suffering a bout of hypothermia while out on a mission. It was very effective.
Relationships: Nero (Devil May Cry) & Reader, Nero (Devil May Cry)/Reader, Nero (Devil May Cry)/You
Comments: 5
Kudos: 86





	Warming Up

**Author's Note:**

> This was one of the many fics I wrote while just starting out, sorry if it's a tad repetitive! This is a repost. :)

You've been out of town for quite some time with Nero. However, you've been away on business. Initially, Dante didn't think this job would need more than a few hours, but in typical Dante fashion, he was wrong. And oh, how wrong he was! 

It's nearly been 4 days, which is quite unusual. After all, the ordeal with the Qliphoth happened in the span of one single day. Things usually move ridiculously fast paced at Devil May Cry. 

Since Dante gravely underestimated the task at hand, he asked Nico to stay with them, at home, to help take care of business in their new HQ following Red Grave City's destruction. You have worked together with Nero a lot in the past months, almost exclusively. The two of you functioned as a perfect team, and you got along well. For your liking, it could have easily been a bit more well. Nero is quite the oblivious man who doesn't like to flatter himself, so it's been a dead end and scorned effort to try and do something to get closer to him. You pretty much accepted your idiotic and ironic fate because you didn't want to risk getting rejected by someone you worked so closely with.

So it's just been you and Nero for the past 4 days, and finally the task at hand was completed. You received your payment in full, in cash this time, so you left with a decent amount of money in your pockets. But this was definitely a life saver because Nico was hours away, in Fortuna. Likely in a nice warm building at that. It was the middle of winter and a warm abode would have definitely been welcome.

After picking up your payment, you figured that the both of you may as well get a nicer room, or a room at all to begin with, before you make your way back, either on foot or just trying to hop on and off train and subway systems to avoid buying a full ticket. 

Nero had some objections to the latter, he only thought it was right to break the law when you pretty much had to, so he convinced you to just go ahead and get a hotel room, and call Nico the next day to see if she can pick you up. It was probably for the better considering the temperatures outside. Even if Nico can't come and pick you up, a few days to yourselves out of town with money in your pockets is certainly nice.

The job wasn't a great one, but it also wasn't chump change, definitely over 10,000$. You could definitely afford it, but you were eager to pinch every last penny that you could, and so was Dante.

As you two were walking around town aimlessly in search of a room and board, the cold was really starting to get the best of you. Snow had fallen, and both of you weren't really dressed to be walking around in snow to begin with. Nero revved his Red Queen to generate a bit of heat for you, which was no big deal, but you felt nearly frozen to the bone. Both of your cell phones were dead, so you were on your feet until you two found a hotel, which was a surprisingly daunting task for being in a moderately sized city.

“U-up there. I see a sign,” you remarked as your teeth chattered against each other, your breath condensing in front of you even though you felt as if you had no more warmth whatsoever left to expend.

Nero squinted his eyes at the sign you just pointed out, he may have superhuman senses but the snow piling on the sign and daylight swiftly fading wasn't making it easier for any of you to read the sign. 

“It either says hotel or motel. I don't care which one at this point. Come on y/n, let’s hurry.”

He bolted ahead of you, seemingly forgetting that you were extremely cold and did not have demonic blood inside you acting as an antifreeze of sorts. About 20 yards in front of you, he turned around to find you no longer at his side, but slowly waddling behind. 

“Y/n… C’mon it's right up the block. You can make it.”  
You felt frozen in your tracks quite literally. “Nero… I'm fucking COLD!”  
He gave you a somewhat puzzled look. “Yeah well then hurry up, let's get inside.”

It took him a while to register that you felt like you were approaching your limits to the exposure, and as he realized, he swooped towards you at breakneck speed and swiftly tucked you between himself and his jacket, and bolted towards the building in the distance. 

“Don't need you freezing to death on me, sorry y/n.”

You barely remembered much after that, you didn't know if you'd passed out or Nero was just sprinting, but it didn't feel like time was lost when your hazy senses came back to you once you were back in the safety of a warm building. Nero was holding your hand, tugging you along through the hallway, you figured he must have already gotten a room. Yeah you definitely passed out, you don't remember that. 

He fumbled to get the key card out of his pocket, and you almost fell over as you were suddenly left to stand up straight with no warning. Luckily, Nero grabbed you after he swung the door open hurriedly, and let out a sigh, as he carried you into the room and lowered you on to the bed.

“Am I gonna have to stick you in the microwave y/n?” that joke fell quite flat because you were still dazed.

As if the cold had frozen your eyeballs shut, your vision was hazy at best as you blinked at Nero. “Uh, no I'm good.”

You raised your stiff arms to rub your eyes, and you felt that familiar icy-hot burning sensation on your fingertips as you pressed your digits to the skin on your face. Expectantly, Nero was still looking at you. 

“What?” you asked.  
“This was the last room they had. Only one bed, I'm sorry about that. I think you were passed out. I didn't think it would be safe to drag you to another place.”

“That's fine. As long as I'm not freezing to death I could really care less…” You yawned as your body keeled backwards towards the bed, still quite stiff and rather heavy, and clumsy. 

As he was undressing from his coat and boots, he asked you if you were okay, if you needed anything to eat or drink, or if you felt something was wrong or still frozen. 

Frankly, you were just exhausted and if you weren't so cold, you probably would have had the nerve to give him an attitude for him babying you. Nero let out another disappointed groan, also directed at you. 

“You're going to soak the whole damn bed if you don't take off your jacket and boots y/n.”

No response.

“Hey, y/n? Are you sure you're alright?” 

\-------

You lost consciousness, but you came back to your senses later, fully aware this time. The first thing you heard was the television in your hotel room blaring, and you felt warm, and dry. For a while, you didn't bother to think about where you were, all you cared about was that you were warm and alive, and you knew Nero was close by because you smelled him. It's hard to miss. Wait, what?

You smelled him, ever so faintly. But it smelled more like his Cologne, which he has at home. So you figured that you're simply wrapped in one of his spare sweatshirts that he brought along in case he needed a change of clothes to look somewhat presentable, and you decided to keep your eyes shut and just get some rest. Until you felt something underneath you stir. 

“H-hey! What…” you mumbled, confused and sleepy.

Whatever you were laying on felt like it was vibrating as you heard Nero's voice. That's when you realized he was underneath you. Surprisingly, he actually took care of you pretty well, and didn't just shove you into a hot bath or shower. 

After you passed out, he made sure to take off any of your wet clothing (which was almost all of it, he left you with your bra and panties because he felt awkward otherwise, and he knew you'd probably give him a stern lecture).

He kept you dry and warm, wrapped in blankets. What you didn't expect him to do, was to take off his own clothes down to boxers and hold you close underneath the blankets and sheets he was able to find in the room. Youreally didn't expect that. But that was more than fine by you. Nero really went the extra mile to keep you warm. That's why you woke up and smelled him immediately. He was right under you, you were sitting in his lap, sideways, with your legs draped over his thighs.

You blushed before you could even open your eyes and assess the situation as a whole as you noticed that detail, and came to the conclusion that you're on top of him. 

“Are you feeling any better? Are you alright? Are you hurt?” He asked you, along with a multitude of other questions you may expect from an overprotective mother who saw her child stumble on a playground.

“Nero I'm fine just tell me what the fuck is going on… I have a headache.”

He composed himself a bit, he got a bit too excited about you waking up again and also being nervous about your reaction to his makeshift efforts to treat your hypothermia. 

“You passed out… Uh… So I had to take all of your wet clothes off, that… Was almost all of them. I left you with… Enough on. So I could wrap you up in the blanket. You were still really cold so I figured… Ugh I'm sorry in advance…”

In your mind you were piecing things together and analyzing whatever your senses could fetch you, and you didn't need to hear more and figured you'd spare him from the embarrassment.

“Yeah yeah I know. I can feel it now...Thank you Nero.”

He let out a large sigh, feeling immense relief; not needing to excuse himself for stripping you and pressing you against his own nearly naked body for purchase against the cold. After all, his body temperature was definitely a couple degrees warmer than an average human; if a human were as warm as him they should be dying due to high fever. 

That is something you’d definitely lecture him about, or anyone else, had they done this to you. While it was a sincere gesture, you knew that it’s definitely not doing the tension any favors. Still, you appreciated it and it was a pleasant surprise.

Wonderful. 

It was also great that instead of trying to free yourself from his grip, you nestled up closer to his chest, as your grip tightened around him holding you in place. Being so close to him and his chest allowed you to take note of his heart beat, which was speeding up.   
You felt his chest rumble as the timbre of his voice reverberated in his chest. “So you’re not...Mad?”

With your head just barely poking out of all of the blankets and sheets, you answered, “No, why should I? You saved my life, Nero.”

An even larger portion of his face turned red. His nose and cheeks were already quite rosy, likely due to the harsh weather you’d been walking around in, and he looked down to meet your gaze. 

“I’m glad I was able to. You really had me worried there y/n…” His voice trailed off, as if he left something out.

“But I’m glad you’re safe now.” Still felt like something was missing. Nero blinked slowly, and laid a hand on your cheek.

“I’m also glad you didn’t flip out on me for… This”, he said in a hushed voice, and used his eyes to motion at your intertwined bodies. You wanted to comment on that, but were still a bit hesitant to ask or assume that he went this far because he could have feelings for you. For all you know, you could just be very deep in the friend zone. No, that couldn’t be. He was blushing. Right? 

Both of you didn’t seem to notice, but his hands had wandered back towards the back of your head, where he gingerly stroked your hair, his eyes unmoved and still locked to yours. Those blue orbs would definitely be your undoing.

“You should get some more rest,” He suggested.  
“But do you need anything first? Water? Anything to eat?”

You shook your head gently, and the corners of his lips slowly curled up into a smile, and his half-lidded eyes held a rather peaceful expression. Slowly, you nestled your head back to where it was before, against his chest where you could hear his heart racing.

“Did you wanna… Stay like this? I can let you go, if you feel warm enough.”

Almost instantly, you said “No! No… I’m fine,” and snaked your arms around him tightly again. Nero couldn’t help but chuckle at your discontent and frantic denial of the idea of letting him go, as he weaved his fingers between your hair to gently cradle your head.

“You’re more than welcome to stay, ba-” Nero swiftly cut himself off and his free hand dashed to scratch his nose in embarrassment. 

If your mind weren’t hazy, and Nero’s body heat and scent weren’t nearly intoxicating, you would have caught on to what he said, or almost said. You were perfectly content to just fall asleep in his arms without noticing what he just called you. Although, it would have been a nice bonus.

However, what literally stuck out to you, was something poking the underside of your thighs. That wasn’t there before. Without much thought, you went to inspect it with your hand. Nero flinched underneath you and whimpered and let out a faint groan once you touched it, it probably felt good but he didn't want you to know that. 

“Woah woah woah! What the hell are you doing y/n?” 

Whatever you just brushed your fingers on got bigger and harder, and pushed into your thighs even more as he jolted and squirmed. Rather innocently, you explained:

“I felt something poking me. Just wanted to see what it is.”  
Nero pinched the bridge of his nose with the hand that he just withdrew from your hair.  
“Yeah… I’m sorry. Fuck I’m really sorry. You can get up if you want, I won’t be mad.”

It took you a few moments to realize what you just laid your hands on, and what that cut off word was. Ahh, slowly it was coming together. He likes you. A lot.

You couldn’t help but smile, and your cute smile quickly turned into a rather cheeky smirk, causing Nero to panic in embarrassment. With his heart racing, and against better judgement, you proceeded to paw at his length pushing into your thigh. He swallowed hard, and began to breathe shakily, and let out a few choked whimpering sounds.

“Y/n…” He didn’t stop you. So you proceeded, still looking at him, your grin nearly spanning ear to ear. You shifted your position on his lap slightly, so you could have better access to your newfound point of interest. You situated yourself so that it was now between your legs. Nero exhaled sharply as you resumed, still not stopping you at all.

“So… This… What’s the meaning of it?”   
“I’m really really sorry y/n… I just… It happens a lot, I don’t know, I’m sorry.” Poor Nero was almost starting to stutter, and the blushing extended from his cheeks to the tips of his ears, still breathing shakily.

You let out a pleased chuckle. “Well, do you mind if I help you out a bit?”

If you weren’t sitting that close under him, his jaw would have dropped straight to the mattress, before groaning uncontrollably as you firmly gripped his length with one hand, still wearing his boxers.

In defeat he threw his head back on the pillows he piled up under his back and neck. “Yeah...Sure,” it was nearly an inaudible whisper, but you heard it nonetheless.

“Mmm… Pretty big.” You pumped your hand up and down to the best of your ability, your other hand snaked around the lower part of his back for purchase, even though he was already holding on to you, supporting your back. Nero shuddered, and chuckled breathlessly.

“I think it’s safe to say that I-” inhaling sharply, he interrupted himself. You took his length out of the slit in his boxers, and you wrapped your hand around his length once again, and he slowly exhaled.

“I… I obviously like you? A lot, like alot-alot. Shit…” his voice trailed off again as you began to stroke his shaft and you hummed in amusement, but you were starting to feel your own neediness stir inside you, slowly awakening. You definitely had it a lot easier than Nero to hide any and all sexual feelings or arousal, and you were slowly taking the lid off of that container of bottled up emotions.

“I like you alot-alot too, Nero,” You laughed. “I didn’t know.. If you felt the same way.”

He scoffed a bit, but couldn’t blame you. He had been trying to hide it, after all. In content silence, you continued to work on him, and Nero was starting to twitch in your hands and was gasping for air more frequently.

“I’m sorry this is how you had to find out y/n, but damn that feels nice.”  
You didn’t really expect him to keep talking, especially since it looked like he was going to cum soon.   
“Guess my efforts keeping you warm paid off huh?”

Before he could chuckle to himself, he whimpered and groaned again, trying to contain himself. You exchanged some intense glances with him, before he crashed his lips against yours, pulling you into a kiss. He didn’t really care that he sidetracked you, he just wanted to finally kiss you.

Despite the harsh weather, his lips still felt heavenly and soft, like velvet. He didn’t poke his tongue out at all, but was still passionately kissing you, and making you crave more. After he let go, he smiled warmly and pulled you on top of his lap, allowing you to straddle him. 

You wrapped your arms around his neck and almost immediately, you started rocking your hips against his length. Nero pressed his forehead against yours, and gave you another quick kiss.

He held your hips firmly, and rocked you back and forth against his cock in unison with your movements, giving them a little extra pressure.

Nero shifted his attention towards your neck and collarbone, planting soft kisses along your neck, getting a bit needier as he made his way down towards your collarbone where he sucked a bit more, leaving faint marks behind. You felt your panties were wet through and through now, and Nero noticed as he looked back up to your eyes, giving you a knowing look. Those blue orbs have always made you weak, but right now where was something else in them that made your heart melt. 

He stilled his movements for a bit, as one hand wandered away from your hip and to the back of your bra, unclasping it. He gently but still eagerly peeled it off of your form, and you could almost see his pupils dilate and eyes flicker when he laid his eyes on your chest. His lips descended upon your breasts, kissing them softly and lovingly, truly adoring everything he saw and felt.

“You’re perfect.”

You hadn’t stopped grinding against him, but this definitely sidetracked you, as well as Nero’s fingers circling on your back gently, holding you with the other hand. He didn’t have to tell you that he loves you, you could definitely feel it in his actions. Your hands had wandered to his hair, gripping it gently and combing your fingers through his silver locks.

Once he felt he’d showered your breasts with enough attention, his eyes wandered back to meet yours.

“You’re really gorgeous, did you know that?” Nero smiled wide, as his half lidded eyes gazed into yours adoringly. He pressed single kisses on to your lips, one by one, as he glided down to the waistband of your panties with his free hand, before locking his eyes with yours again once they had reached their destination.

“Can I take these off babe?” You nodded at him, leaning backwards on to his knees so he could pull them off for you, as well as take his own underwear off. You needily positioned yourself back on to his lap, feeling his length brush against you was heavenly, and it felt extremely warm to the touch. Your core was truly aching and sopping wet at this point, eagerly waiting for him.

While it may be a bit selfish, Nero didn’t really hesitate at all as he began to line himself up to your entrance, but you also wanted him so badly. He knew you were on the pill from spending so much time with you so he didn’t really ask. Not that it was of any concern to you, anyway. You lifted your hips up high enough to be able to sink down onto his cock and fully engulf it with your warmth.

He was pretty large, but all of that grinding had made you extremely wet and turned on to the point where you’d ignore any pain you encountered while sliding his length inside you for the first time. You let out a surprised moan once you were entirely surrounding his length up to the hilt.

“That’s a lot for you to take in babe, don’t worry about keeping it all in,” Nero said as he gently cupped your cheek. You chuckled, but promptly started rolling your hips on to his, as he drew you in closer with his grip, pressing your torso flush against him and burying his face in your chest. Waves of pleasure and heat began crashing against your walls as you slid his length back and forth inside of your tightness, the angle at which you were rolling your hips on his was also perfectly stimulating your bundle of nerves where your bodies conjoined.

As he noticed that you weren't necessarily listening to him, he asked if you're not a tiny bit uncomfortable perhaps. Truth be told, you were ignoring any pain you may have felt and were just focusing on how good he felt inside you, filling you up as you tightened around him. 

You were trying to take note of his form; trying to be aware of every ridge and vein as it brushed against your insides. His cock was something you'd never want to forget, and probably never could either way judging by just how good it felt. 

Nero interrupted your train of thought.   
“Do you think we could switch?”

Considering your thighs were already sore, you happily agreed, but you let out a slightly dissatisfied whimper as he pulled out of you. Seeing all of that mass come back out of you just made you miss it even more, even though he wasn't pulled out of you for too long in actuality. 

Once you were on your back, and comfortably propped against some pillows, he lined himself back up by your entrance after propping your hips up with a pillow as well. You liked this position more; something about Nero being in control and watching him partake in you was a lot more arousing. Not to mention it was a lot easier to get a good look at him now, watching his muscles move and tense up under his skin, and those eyes. You could stare at them all day, and they could easily bring you to your knees and beg any day. 

You were almost lost in a sea of pleasure, every one of your senses nearly being overloaded by Nero each moment. The view, the sensations, the emotions, his breathy groans and compliments as well as words of encouragement, his scent, and the taste he left on your lips. You wondered how he felt right now as well, but that thought quickly escaped your mind. 

Nero was equally as shaken to the core, finally being able to express his feelings for you and please you in the most intimate ways possible. As if his words weren't enough, the look in his eyes expressed what words cannot. 

On top of that, you felt intoxicatingly good; so warm, wet and tight around him, you were eager to swallow every single inch, and to have him buried inside you entirely. He really wasn't expecting you to be this ridiculously tight and eager for his cock, and this excited him even more. 

He also wasn't expecting to be so turned on by the moans and whimpers he elicited from you, not to mention you crying out his name begging for more. He would absolutely not stop, that is until you ask him, or if he worries that he may overstimulate you.

Both of you were lost and tangled up in each other, emotionally and physically. You really didn’t expect this to happen, especially not after you passed out earlier. That sure is one good way to warm up.

Your mind was pretty much a mess, but the burning feeling of your release inching closer threatened to overtake everything else, and there was nothing you could do about it but let it happen, as Nero kept thrusting inside of you, his body pressed against yours, face buried in your shoulder. You kept moaning his name and begging him to not stop, which you knew he wouldn’t anyway. You just couldn’t help it for some reason. Nero was starting to twitch more erratically inside you but he would force himself to push you over the edge first.

He gasped for air, and then promptly planted his lips on yours. The feeling of teetering on the edge was starting to get painful, and you let out a slightly annoyed groan. He must have gotten the hint, because he lifted his head up to look at you. His hand swiftly moved to your bundle of nerves as he gave you a few more thrusts, pulling out of you almost entirely before shoving the entire length back in. The grin on his face was growing wider the more he felt you clenching and trembling around his cock.

That grin was wiped off of his face as you reached your limit. Your eyes fluttered before nearly rolling back, and then pressed them shut. You couldn’t really control anything as your high washed over you but that was exactly what Nero was dying to see, before letting himself reach his own limit. He came inside you as you rode out your high, almost perfectly timed to avoid thrusting longer than you could stand before becoming uncomfortably sensitive and tight.

After finally having some release you were able to focus your senses again, and you felt a second wave of satisfaction creep up on you as you felt his cock throb and pulsate inside of you accompanied by a hot trickling sensation. Nero looked back up at you to give you a weary smile, and a short kiss. He still hadn’t pulled out yet, figuring you’re still too sensitive.

“That was fucking incredible y/n,” he panted, still recovering from his own high. “Seriously!”  
He let out a sigh as you chuckled softly.

“Agreed.”  
Before pulling out he asked you if you felt okay, just to make sure. He must have pumped an awful lot inside you, because immediately after he removed himself from you, it started to drip out of you. He stared for a moment, not really believing he just did that to you. It was almost unreal how satisfying it was, because this was something he thought he could only dream of when he woke up this morning. It didn’t take too long before he diverted his attention back to you.

Seeing as you’d already made a mess of the sheets, he picked you up and brought you to the bathroom, cum still dripping out of you, some of it on to him, some on the carpet. Woops.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, huh?”

He couldn’t see you, but he felt you silently nodding on his shoulder. The bathroom was quite nice, you weren’t expecting that considering the bed was smaller, just a single queen sized bed. The tub was very large, and built in flush to the wall, it almost looked like a hot tub. He held your whole weight with one arm, while grabbing some towels; plucking them off the towel heaters and laying them over the edge of the tub where he sat you down.

“Are you going to join me at least?”

“I sure will,” he replied as he reached to turn the water on, and gave you a quick kiss on your forehead. He was extremely sweet and thoughtful when it came down to it, that’s something you never thought he had in him. But his adoration for you and his care just made you fall even harder than you already had, you weren’t even noticing how dopey and lovey you’d been looking at him, and that made him laugh.

“Everything alright y/n?” he asked jokingly.  
You really couldn’t help but to remark on how sweet he was to you.   
“Nero you’re really sweet. Thank you.”  
That must have caught him off guard, seeing as he blushed a little bit. 

“You’re the only person I’d ever do this kind of shit for,” he teased.  
“If that were anyone else freezing to death I would have just left it at taking the wet clothes off and blankets, if I’m feeling generous.”  
You giggled. “I mean this,” referring to him taking you to the bathroom and running a bath.  
“This? That’s just common sense y/n. I don’t mind, I love making sure you’re safe and feeling well.” You smiled at him in response, and he noticed.That was one of the few times Nero actually managed to make you blush. It’s not really common sense, at least in your own mind and by today’s standards. 

He was definitely going the extra mile. But you were really just blushing over the fact that to him, this is his job and it’s a given. A rare trait, something you’d cherish forever.

He sat down next to you on the edge of the tub, waiting for it to fill up. He wrapped one arm around you and pulled you closer to his side. You couldn’t really help but notice he’s still actually hard, and you smiled to yourself. 

Nero had a feeling he’d made himself clear with his actions, but seeing you blush before made him want to try to evoke that response again, considering usually you’re making him blush left and right.

He turned his head towards you, to get your attention. His blue eyes practically rooted you in place the second you looked into them. A warm smile spread across his face, and he pressed a quick kiss against your forehead before taking your chin between his index finger and thumb, knowing full well what his icy gaze was capable of doing to you. With a tinge of hesitation he bit his lip, in an attempt to hide his grin.

“You know I love you right, y/n?”

You felt your heart sink, no- plummet into your stomach. Your tear ducts were threatening to burst and you felt a searing heat creep unto your cheeks. He got what he wanted and promptly pulled you into a passionate kiss, which was only broken when Nero noticed the bath was getting full. He stood up to help you get in, and chucked the towel you were sitting on across the room before getting in and sitting behind you.

The water was pretty hot, but as he joined you his body heat seemed to be even hotter. Nero sat down, both legs extended next to you, one on each side. He quickly wrapped his arms around you from behind, and pressed his face into your hair. As if to tease you, now that he knew your reactions, he repeatedly said “I love you” a few times, face still pressed against your hair. He couldn’t contain his laughs, but your heart was melting away either way.

When he felt like he’d teased you enough, he removed his head from the base of your neck, and gave you a kiss on your cheek. Based on the temperature, you were definitely blushing. 

“You’re so cute when you’re blushing, I should do that more often…”  
You scoffed and splashed him playfully. “Please do, then.”  
“I promise to tell you at least once a day, how does that sound?”   
As you threw your head back to look up at him, he was already expecting you. “Hmm?”  
“That sounds perfect.”

While it was an incredibly awkward angle, he still pressed his lips against yours for a few moments. 

“Deal.”

Nero didn’t want to prod you and poke you to say the same thing to him, he felt kind of bad for making you blush already, but that was all he needed to see to know you felt the same, too. 

He backed up a bit, which initially surprised you. The clip you forgot you even had in your hair was plucked out by Nero, and he clipped your hair up again for you, so that it doesn’t hang over your back, and kissed the back of your neck. He started to rub your back gently. 

“Aren’t you sore? Lemme help.”  
“A bit, but you don’t have to.”  
He shushed you, and pretended he didn’t hear you. “Then I’ll give you a hand.”

Considering his superhuman strength, he was very gentle with you and skillfully worked the soreness out of your shoulders, planting kisses on your neck and back here and there. After a solid 20 minutes you felt his arms wrap around you again, pulling you closer again, remaining silent for a good minute or two before stirring.

“Let’s get both of us cleaned up now. It’s really late.” He grabbed the soap and began lathering both of you up. Normally you wouldn’t let him do this because it’s a bit too far into the babying-category, but you let him. It’s been a long 4 days and you really needed a break anyway. After you were done, he wrapped you up in a warm towel and wrapped a single towel around his waist before darting off back into the room. You figured he was replacing the sheets so you stayed behind in the bathroom. 

As you examined yourself in the mirror, you noticed just how many little bruises and marks Nero left on your chest, neck and collarbones. You were thrilled, but also mildly annoyed. Before Nero could call you back, you yelled,

“NERO! YOU ASSHOLE!” 

He knew exactly what you just noticed, and you heard him snickering in the other room. “Sorry babe, we can stay here longer if you’re so scared of anyone seeing.”

You joined him in the main room, and sat down next to him on the bed with fresh sheets. As expected, he wrapped an arm around you again. “Which I may have arranged anyway. I called Nico and she’ll pick us up in 2 days. I said we’d be done with the job by then.” You gave him a surprised look.  
“And she believed that?”

“I don’t know if she believed it 100%, but she agreed to come get us in 2 days.”

Nero wasn’t sure if that was actually what you wanted, and you could see the slightest bit of worry in his eyes. 

“That’s perfect. Seriously Nero, I love you. I love you so much.”

He sighed in relief, closed his eyes and rested his head atop yours as you resumed your earlier position. “Was wondering when you’d finally say that.”

“Hey!” you pouted.  
“...Aren’t you tired yet babe? We should get some sleep. You've got a whole ‘nother 2 days to be sassy with me and give me an attitude.” 

You silently obliged, and crawled back towards the headboard of the bed with him, getting underneath the covers. You almost forgot that you hadn't even gotten dressed again, but that was fine by you. You instantly sought him out under the blanket and he promptly pulled you in closer, so you could cuddle him as you fell asleep. 


End file.
